The internal combustion engine disclosed in German Patent No. 12 42 045 has intake rocker arms and exhaust rocker arms, which for each cylinder are combined into one forked rocker arm and one bridge rocker arm. The bridge rocker arm, because of the connecting webs, effects a considerable increase in the mass to be moved and a reduction in flexural stiffness.
A similar development is shown in European Patent EP 0 194 922 concerning a spark-ignition internal combustion engine with a central overhead camshaft, in which the valves are operated either by two bridge rocker arms or by one bridge rocker arm and two individual rocker arms.